Looks like I have been taking the wrong approach in saying that the Australian travel warnings about traveling to Indonesia should also be matched by warnings about traveling to that dangerous, terrorist-ridden country Great Britain. A report in Sunday's Sun Herald, drawing in turn from a report in The Guardian, points out that Australia is the second most dangerous destination for those coming from the mother country. 'Violent crime, extreme weather and incidents involving fauna' (! luckily the flora was OK) meant that Britons called on their consular services in Australia nearly as much as those in Thailand. The report goes on the cite the statistic that '59 Britons died in Australia between April 2005 and March last year' (although to be fair since there are so many Britons resident in Australia, there were probably quite a few deaths from old age in there).
Britain obviously needs to warn its citizens that they should not travel here unless absolutely necessary, which would have the added bonus of relieving pressure on those living near backpackers' hostels.
Comments
Surely the reason that most English residents die in Oz is due to excessive consumption of booze!!
Travel warnings are also political statements; we all like to think our governments' have their respective citizenry's best interests at heart, but this is only half-true.
Due to the excessive and often inaccurate criticism of the Australian government following the first Bali bombing, the govt. now 're-issues' travel warnings to Indonesia periodically in order to cover their arse politically.
These warnings are also a reflection of how the Australian government percieves the competence of the 'target' country (i.e. Indonesia=incompetent), and hence warnings are used to indicate a lack of faith.
It is a continuation of politics via proxy, just as the Indonesian government continues to create proxy issues of their own to divert domestic attention on serious issues(such as the manufactured Papuan refugee issue last year), the Australian govt. will 'retaliate' by continuing to re-issue warnings.
This is unlikely to end in the near future.
Posted by: naga | August 14, 2007 01:22 PM
Nice info..is Bali inclusive in the travel warning? or thw hole of indonesia...
Posted by: Bali Tour Guide | August 10, 2007 10:30 AM